Zabat’s expression was ugly.
‘You made up a story to win your father’s attention. Because he despised his abomination,’ Zabat said.
Lirah stood and glared at Zabat, who took a step back. She indicated Froi with a toss of her head. ‘He will kill you, fool. Mark my words. I saw him maim four of De Lancey’s men in the godshouse in the blink of an eye.’
The second rider was nervous, staring from the women to Froi. Dorcas looked at Froi uneasily, a film of perspiration on his brow.
‘Search him again,’ he said.
‘Let him go,’ Quintana sighed, dismissing Froi with a wave of her hand. ‘He’s no threat to you or Bestiano. He was sent to end my life, not yours or my father’s. That is the truth. He admitted it to me himself.’
She stood and the riders stepped towards her. Fear was in the room. Even in Quintana’s eyes. Froi saw it there, combined with fury, and it was directed his way.
‘But I want to speak to him first,’ she said. ‘To say that although you’ve betrayed me, Lumateran, I want you to know that those gifts you left me in that little treasure chest with the fan bird etched in its stone are ones that I will always carry in my heart.’
Froi fought hard to conceal every thought that ran through his mind. Every emotion. The thrill and satisfaction that came with the knowledge of what she was trying to tell him.
He looked at Dorcas. He needed to buy time.
‘This is not my fight,’ he said after a pause.
Dorcas nodded, pleased. Relieved.
‘Good to hear. Don’t ever let me see you in these parts again, Lumateran.’
Froi turned to walk away and then stopped.
‘Can I …’ Froi looked down, pretending awkwardness. ‘Can I bid her farewell?’ He leaned close to Dorcas. ‘I did share her bed,’ he whispered, ‘and I did lose a bit of my heart to her. Or to one of those who live inside of her, anyway.’
Dorcas stared from Froi to Quintana and nodded. ‘Make it quick.’
Froi joined her where she stood beside the cot. He took her hands and felt where she had concealed the daggers he’d buried in the cave. He was impressed with the way the scabbards were perfectly placed.
‘Did I ever call you useless?’ he asked softly.
‘Three times,’ she said, her tone sour.
‘Three times, you say?’
‘Yes, we tend to count the amount of times we’re called useless by one person. Bestiano made mention of it thirty-seven times.’
‘My, my, you do have a good memory for details.’
She nodded. ‘And I do believe you referred to me as worthless moments ago.’
He rubbed her palm intimately and then placed his hands on both her shoulders, feeling the scabbard across her shoulder.
‘Their measurement of worth, Princess. Not mine.’
He leaned forward to press a kiss to her mouth. Regardless of the circumstances, she still moved her face slightly so his lips touched her cheeks instead.
‘You’ve lost that privilege,’ she said coolly.
‘Pity.’
Froi yanked the two daggers from her sleeve and hurled one at Zabat, catching him between the eyes, the other at the second rider’s thigh as he kicked the man’s sword from his hand and spun Quintana around to retrieve the short sword at her shoulders. He pushed her behind him, smashing Dorcas across the temple with the handle of the sword just as Lirah scrambled for a dagger. The third guard entered the cave, weapon raised, hesitating one moment too long as he stared at the body of the dead man and at Dorcas struggling to his feet. In an instant, Lirah had a sword pointed at the back of the man’s neck and Froi put a foot on Dorcas’s chest.
‘I’m going to regret not killing you,’ Froi said, looking down at him, ‘but it’s not in my bond to take your life.’
‘And it was in your bond to take his?’ Dorcas gasped, pointing to Zabat’s body.
‘Zabat has brought war to the edge of my kingdom. My bond is to destroy anyone who is a threat to Lumatere.’
Satisfied that the three riders were tied up securely, Froi stepped outside to where Quintana and Lirah stood. He whistled softly and listened for the whistle in return. They heard it and he followed the sound along the stream and up a path. Arjuro’s head suddenly appeared behind a twisted knot of shrubbery that concealed a low narrow entrance to a cave. Froi gently pushed Lirah before him, and turned only to see Quintana running.
From him.
Enraged, he tore after her, catching her on an incline, causing them both to tumble to the ground. He heard voices and Froi held a hand over her mouth as they tried to control their ragged breaths. He knew by the sound of the footsteps that there were two others circling.
‘Go check on Dorcas,’ he heard the rider closest to them say.
A caterpillar found its way across the rider’s boot and Froi watched Quintana’s finger reach out and softly brush its texture as if she’d never seen anything so strange before. Froi knew the moment she felt its sting, her eyes wide with shock. Forgetting his anger for a moment, he gripped her finger in his fist to soften the pain. When the riders walked away and they heard the last of their footsteps, Froi grabbed her hand and dragged her into the cave where the others hid.
When he was satisfied that the cave entrance was concealed by the shrubs and they were safe for the time being, he turned to where she sat huddled against the wall, her arms clasped around her knees, eyes fixed on Froi’s as if he was some fiend, rather than the one who had saved her life.
‘You could have got us killed,’ he whispered with anger. ‘All of us. You never run from me again. Do you hear?’
Lirah crouched beside Quintana. ‘Try to sleep,’ she murmured, but Quintana shook her head and whispered in Lirah’s ear, the whole time her eyes never leaving Froi’s.
‘No,’ Lirah said patiently, ‘I think you’re both safe for now.’
Through the night, Froi lay awake, listening for every snap of a twig or voice outside. He could see the outline of Quintana sitting up, felt her eyes boring into him. In the morning when a little light entered the cave, he found her seated exactly as she had been the night before, her eyes fixed on where he was.
‘I’m going to catch us something to eat,’ he muttered, and before the others could argue against it, he was gone.
Chapter 25
That day the base of the gravina swarmed with more riders. Although it seemed dangerous to catch a hare and risk the Charynites following the scent of it roasting, Froi caught two all the same, figuring that they’d have to eat them raw if they were hungry enough.
‘They know we’re here,’ he whispered to the others when he returned. ‘Their numbers seem to have doubled overnight.’
‘Perhaps they’re just passing through on their way to Jidia,’ Arjuro said.
‘They’re here to stay,’ Froi said flatly. ‘And so are we until they’re gone.’
‘I’ve found something.’ Gargarin’s voice came from the back of the cave and Froi followed, squeezing into the nook beside him.
Gargarin took Froi’s hand in the dark and pressed it around a small opening in the stone.
‘It could end the moment you crawl in, but it’s worth a try.’
‘These caves are supposed to lead to the steps of Jidia, Sir.’ Quintana’s voice was suddenly there at his shoulders.
‘The steps of Jidia are a myth,’ Gargarin said.
Froi poked his head inside the space, relieved for once that he wasn’t the size of a Lumateran river man. He climbed in and began to crawl.
‘Don’t go too far,’ he heard Gargarin order, and the words echoed over and over again.